pagans had with fire and sword reduced the churches and monasteries to ashes, Christianity being almost extinguished, there were scarcely any churches left, and those few covered with twigs and thatch; but no monasteries had been anywhere rebuilt for two hundred years. Thus did belief in religion wax faint, and all religious observances entirely die away; the name of a monk was a thing unheard-of by the people in the provinces, who were struck with amazement when by chance they beheld any one devoted to the monastic life, and clothed in the garb of a monk. But on the above-named three persons coming to dwell among them, they themselves also began to change their brutish mode of living for the better, to give them all possible assistance in restoring the sacred places, rebuilding the halfruined churches, and even building new ones in the spots where they had previously existed. Many persons also abandoned a secular life, and assumed the monastic habit; few, however, of these were provincials; they were mostly persons from the remote districts of England, who, being allured by the report of their character, repaired thither, and zealously attached themselves to them.

Of these, Turgot, afterwards bishop of the Scots, was one. He, being sprung from a family by no means among the lowest ranks of the English, was one among a number of hostages, who, when England was totally subjected to the Normans, had been placed in confinement in Lincoln castle, which was the place of safe keeping for the whole of Lindesey. Having bribed the keepers with a sum of money, he secretly, to the hazard of his friends, fled to certain Norwegians, who were then at Grimsby, loading a merchant-ship for Norway, on board which the ambassadors of king William, who were about to proceed to Norway, had procured a passage.

When the ship, speeding on at full sail, had lost sight of land, behold! the run-away hostage of the king came forth from the lower part of the ship, where the Norwegians had concealed him, in the sight of all, and caused astonishment among the ambassadors and their attendants. For he had been sought in every spot, and the king's tax-gatherers had made their search in that very ship; but the cunning of those who concealed him had contrived to deceive the eyes of the searchers. Upon this, the ambassadors insisted upon their furling their sails, and by all means steering back the ship towards the

English shore, in order to take back the run-away hostage of the king. This was stoutly resisted by the Norwegians, whose wish it was that they should steer onward in the course they had so prosperously begun; upon which a division arose, and prevailed to such a degree that each party took up arms against the other. But as the force of the Norwegians was superior, the boldness of the ambassadors very speedily subsided, and the nearer they approached to land, the more did they humble themselves to the others.

Upon their arrival there, the runaway youth behaved himself becomingly and modestly, showed himself grateful to the nobles and principal men, and came under the notice of king Olaf, who being of a very pious turn of mind, was in the habit of reading holy books, and giving his attention to literature amid the cares of state. He would also frequently stand by the priest at the altar, and assist him in putting on the holy vestments, pouring the water upon his hands, and with great devotion performing other duties of a similar nature. Accordingly, on hearing that a clerk had come over from England, a thing that seemed somewhat unusual at that period, he employed him as his own master in learning the Psalms; in consequence of which he lived in extreme affluence, the bounty of the king and nobles flowing in upon him apace. His mind, however, was often smitten, in a spirit of compunction, with contempt for the world, and, whenever he was able, he would withdraw himself from the banquets of the revellers, and take delight in solitude, praying to God with tears that he would direct him in the paths of salvation. But, inasmuch as religious aspirations, when subjected to delay, frequently change, his mind by degrees fell away from this state, and in consequence of the success which attended his pursuits, the pleasures of this world had too great attractions for him.

But he, who, when invited, was unwilling to come of his own accord, at a future time, by compulsion, entered the house of his heavenly Father. For some years after, he was returning home by ship with a large sum of money; but when out at sea, the vessel was wrecked in a most violent storm, and his companions perishing, he lost the whole of his property, having, with some five or six others, with the greatest difficulty saved his life. Coming to Durham for the purpose of offering his prayers, he informed bishop Walcher of every thing

up

that had happened to him, and stated to him that it was his fixed purpose to assume the monastic habit. On this the bishop received him with all humility, and, sending him to Aldwin, of whom mention has been made above, said: "It is my prayer and my command, that you will receive this my son, and, clothing him in the monastic habit, will teach him to observe the monastic rule of life." Aldwin on receiving him, submitted him to the regular probation, and when he had passed through that state conferred upon him the monastic habit, and so trained him by precept and example, that after his own decease, by order of bishop William, he succeeded him as prior of the church of Durham, which for twenty years, less twelve days, he zealously governed. But in the year when Ranulph was made bishop, who succeeded William, Alexander the Eighth, king of the Scots, having asked the assent of Henry, king of the English, thereto, he was chosen bishop of the church of Saint Andrew.

In the same year in which pope Hildebrand held the abovenamed council, Roger, earl of Hereford, son of William, earl of the East Angles, contrary to the command of king William, gave his sister in marriage to earl Rodulph. The nuptials being celebrated with the utmost magnificence, amid a large concourse of nobles at a place in the province of Grantebridge," which is called Ixning, a great number there entered into a conspiracy against king William, and compelled earl Waltheof, who had been intercepted by them by stratagem, to join the conspiracy. He, however, as soon as he possibly could, went to Lanfranc, the archbishop of Canterbury, and received absolution from him at the holy sacrament, for the crime that he had, although not spontaneously, committed; by whose advice, he also went to king William, who was at the time staying in Norway, and disclosing to him the whole matter from beginning to end, threw himself entirely upon his mercy.

In the meantime, the chiefs above-mentioned, being determined to promote the success of this conspiracy, repaired to their castles, and began, with their supporters, to use all possible endeavours in encouraging the rebellion. But the venerable Wulstan, the bishop of Worcester, with a great body of soldiers, prevented the earl of Hereford from fording the river Severn and meeting earl Rodulph, with his army, at the place

62 Cambridge.

appointed. Wulstan was also joined by Egelwin, the abbat of Evesham, with all his people who had been summoned to his assistance, together with Urso, the sheriff of Worcester, and Walter de Lacy, with his troops, and a considerable multitude of the lower classes. But earl Rodulph having pitched his camp near Grantebridge, Odo, bishop of Bayeux, the king's brother, and Geoffrey, bishop of Constance, having collected a great body both of English and Normans and prepared for battle, opposed him.

On seeing that his attempts were thus thwarted by the multitude that opposed him, he secretly fled to Norwich, and entrusting the castle to his wife and his knights, embarked on board ship, and fled from England into Brittany; on which, being pursued by his adversaries, all of his men whom they could overtake they either put to death, or else inflicted upon them various kinds of punishments. After this, the nobles besieged the castle of Norwich, until, peace being made by the king's sanction, the countess, with her people, was allowed to leave England. These events having happened, in the autumn the king returned from Normandy, and placed earl Roger in confinement, and in like manner threw earl Waltheof into prison, although he had besought his mercy.

Edgitha, the former queen of the English, died this year at Winchester, in the month of December, on which her body was, by the royal command, conveyed to London, and honorably buried at Westminster, near that of her lord, king Edmund. Here, at the ensuing Nativity of our Lord, the king held his court, and some of those who had uplifted their necks against him he banished from England, and others he mangled, by putting out their eyes, or cutting off their hands; earls Waltheof and Roger, condemned by a judicial sentence, he committed to closer custody.

In the year 1075, earl Waltheof, by command of king William, was unrighteously led outside of the city of Winchester, and there cruelly decapitated with an axe, and buried in the ground on the spot; but in course of time, God so ordaining it, his body was raised from the earth, and carried with great honor to Croyland, and with great pomp buried in the church there. While he was still in possession of life in this world, on being placed in close confinement, he unceasingly bewailed what he had done amiss, and most zealously endea

voured to make his peace with God by means of watchings and prayers and fastings and almsgiving; his memory men have tried to bury in the earth, but we are to believe that in truth he rejoices with the Saints in heaven, the above-named archbishop Lanfranc, of pious memory, having faithfully attested it, from whom, on making confession, he had received absolution. He asserted that he was innocent of the charge on which he was accused, namely, that of joining in the aforesaid conspiracy, and that what he had been guilty of in other respects, he had, like a true Christian, bewailed with the tears of repentance; and Lanfranc declared that he himself should be blessed, if, after the end of his life, he should be able to enjoy his happy repose. After him, the care of the earldom of Northumbria was entrusted to Walcher, bishop of Durham.

After these transactions, the king led his army into Brittany, and besieged the castle of earl Rodulph, which is called Dol, until Philip, king of France, forced him to retire.

At this period, as the secular clergy chose rather to submit to be excommunicated, than to put aside their wives, pope Hildebrand, in order that he might, if possible, chastise them by means of others, ordered in the following words that no person should hear mass performed by a married priest:

66

Gregory, the pope, who is also called Hildebrand, the servant of the servants of God, to all throughout the realms of Italy and Germany, who show due obedience to Saint Peter, the Apostolic benediction. If there are any priests, deacons, or sub-deacons, who are guilty of the crime of fornication, we do on behalf of Almighty God, and by the authority of Saint Peter, forbid them entrance into the church, until such time as they shall amend and be repentant. But if any shall prefer to persist in their sinful course, no one of you is to presume to listen to them while officiating; inasmuch as their blessing is changed into a curse, and their prayers into sinfulness, as the Lord beareth witness by his prophet, saying, "Your blessings I will curse,' ," &c.62

In the year 1076, Sweyn, king of the Danes, a man greatly devoted to literature, departed this life, and was succeeded by his son, Harold.

In the year 1077, Robert, the eldest son of king William, because he was not allowed to take possession of Normandy, which, before his arrival in England his father had given to

62 Mal. ii. 2.